An automotive store manager is responsible for every aspect of an automobile store operation like merchandising, advertising, and promotion of automotive products and services. This position involves a high-level of customer interaction and mangers should have a flair for selling and should be interested in the retailing field. They should have a thorough knowledge of automotive products and components. Managers are responsible for purchasing automotives and automotive products from the wholesalers and should make sure that the products are qualitatively good and meet the customers’ requirements.
An automotive store manager will also be responsible for selecting, coaching, and developing the store associates by giving them good training about the automotive products and teaching them the art of selling and interacting with the customers. Selecting the staff plays a crucial role in the success of a retail organization and they need to be given good intrapersonal training on an ongoing basis. Automotive store managers should motivate other staff members of the organization in order to gain maximum outcome from them. They should set goals for them and maintain their morale, since motivated employees ultimately add up to the development of the organization.
Automotive store managers should have winning attitudes and should be team players. They should have good customer interaction skills because customer care is an important part of the retail industry. Managers should be well trained in technical and management aspects. They should have thorough knowledge of the automotive industry, which includes direct automobile spare parts repairs, diagnostics, and maintenance of automobile parts. They should also be able to lead a team of technicians and train them if required. Managers should be well informed with the model, color, specifications, and financing packages of an automobile. With a lot of purchase options available online in today’s world, the customer might be more informed than the sales staff at an automotive dealership, but the relationship with the customer should be clearly maintained by the store manager in order to make them to buy a good product of their choice.
To become a good automotive store manager, you should work furiously to enhance the customers’ experience, which remains as a crucial touch between a retailer and a customer in the business of selling. The customer might demand a different set of deliverables from you, and you should understand customers’ needs in order to provide them with good service. You should provide them the convenience of viewing your products and vehicles, convenience of delivery, comfort of transactions, a pressure-free environment, availability of products they require, and a friendly layout with them in order to satisfy them. For the improvement of sales, these criteria are core factors and you should require a dynamic focus on fulfilling and exceeding the customer expectations.
The quality of products you purchase from the wholesalers is an important fact that you should take care of. Providing your customer with good quality products is a key factor for the development of your company in the future. You should also know what to stock in your retail shop depending upon the customer requirements, rather than depending on your own judgment. Hence you need to learn how to own customer data and extract information about their requirements from it.
You should also provide customers with good product display in order to attract them to the products. You can try to prepare good catalogs that provide detailed specifications of the products and automotives to help the customers in choosing the products they need.
You should also have a good knowledge of a reasonable financial option for the automotives so that you provide your customers with some guidelines about the loans for their automotives. You should have a fair knowledge about the financiers who provide the loans for the customers to purchase an automotive with reasonable rates of interest to help your customers in this process. This helps in further building up a relationship with your customer, because most of the customers will be looking for a financial option in buying an automobile.
There are many courses provided by many institutions and B-schools in automotive retailing. You can do a diploma course in automotive retailing and a master’s degree in automotive retailing management provided by various institutions around the world to increase your retailing skills. These courses provide you with a progressive route in retailing and help you to meet the needs of a good manager from every point of view.
The automobile industry is one of the few industries in the world that is receiving high-level annual growth. As the market grows in size, there is a need for good candidates in the industry, especially in the retailing of these products. The industry requires candidates with a flair for selling and with an excellent technical knowledge of automotive parts. Hence automotive store managers are in great demand in the near future and this field provides great career opportunities in all parts of the world.
